Pick My New Phone -- The Choice!

Notice #1: Cross-posted from my personal blog]

Notice #2: This blog entry has nothing to do with theater (unless you count the fact that I use my phone to keep in touch with the tech crew).

I really wanted a cool title for this post. I considered "I Kissed A Phone" (too cutesy), "The Smartphone Has Landed" (too audacious?), "Smartphone Accomplished!" (too Iraq War), and "What (Phone) Have I Got In My Pocket?" (too Tolkien). In the end, I just went with something that should tie this post in with the previous ones in this thread.

Anyway...

Anyone out there remember I was looking to upgrade my smartphone? Well, I narrowed my choice down to two options, but I didn't really mention anything here since early June. If, however, you follow me on twitter, you might have caught a reference or two as to what phone I finally selected.

It's funny, but my choice ultimately came down to two things: Cost and availability. On the cost factor, the Droid Incredible was going to cost me about 4x as much as the Palm Pre Plus. Concerning availability, as of June 22 the Incredible was backordered into mid- to late July. Now, my favorite time to test drive a new phone is when I travel because I can really put a device through its paces and see if it will work for me. As things stood, I was going to be driving to Boston on July 2 and staying for a few days, so I definitely wanted to pickup a new phone before my departure.

Hello Palm Pre Plus.

I'm working on a full review of my experience with this device, both on my Boston trip and day-to-day since then. I'm nowhere near ready to post it, but at least now you know what I've got in my pocket.

Pick My New Phone (Is There an App for That?) -- Update!

Notice #1: Cross-posted from my personal blog]

Notice #2: This blog entry has nothing to do with theater (unless you count the fact that I use my phone to keep in touch with the tech crew).

As you know, I'm looking to upgrade my smartphone. Several folks have provided feedback here on the blog, by twitter, on my Facebook wall, and by email. Thanks to that input, and a little trip to the local Verizon store, I have narrowed my options to two devices.

• Palm Pre Plus: My last three or four phones have been Palm devices. They easily sync with Mac OS X (contacts, schedule, photos, memos, etc.). The Palm Pre Plus has been rated as having the best OS out there. It can be used as a mobile WiFi hotspot for up to five devices. It has a great touchscreen as well as a slide-out keyboard (with actual keys). Speaking of the keyboard, I am pretty much used to its layout because it is so similar to the Centro. And, with Verizon's current pricing, I can get this smartphone for free.

• HTC Droid Incredible: The name really says it all as this is an incredible device. All the pros of the Droid OS, but none of the reported problems of the Motorola Droid. It cannot be used as a WiFi hotspot, but it can be tethered to your laptop for internet connectivity. The camera is great and it has an LED flash! Now, this device is fairly pricey, and I have to wait if I want it (most locations had about a three week wait to get the device as of a week ago), but I do get a discount on it (thanks to my "new every two" feature with Verizon).
  

At this point, I still have to perform my own tests to see which device is better at all the tasks I need it to do. But if I am looking for something to keep me for the next two years while I wait for Verizon to get the iPhone, it seems I should lean toward the Palm Pre Plus. It's available now, has WiFi capability (included with the data package), and the price is right. As long as it handles webmail, music, Twitter, and Facebook like a champ, my decision should be pretty much made, right?

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Compressing Our Music To Death?

I saved this article back in December and only got around to reading it today.

[NPR] The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

The NPR article includes this helpful poster for understanding "dynamic" in music:

Christopher Clark's visual analogy for dynamic (click for full PDF of poster)

I'm very much interested in the claim that after listening to a "whole album of this highly compressed music, your ear is fatigued." Based on some of my own experiences of late, I'm thinking it might not be too far off the mark.

So what do you think? Has compression given us a huge portable library of music that is draining more than entertaining?

Pick My New Phone! (Is There an App for That?)

Notice #1: Cross-posted from my personal blog]

Notice #2: This blog entry has nothing to do with theater (unless you count the fact that I use my phone to keep in touch with the tech crew).

Three months ago, I put it off. And I was prepared to put it off for another month. But the time has come to make a decision.

I'm due for an upgrade and I need a new smartphone.

Now, I am a Mac user, so one would think this is a decision easily made and acted upon. I should get an iPhone, right? Well, let me tell you, I would certainly like to have an iPhone. There are, however, a few issues. First, I am on Verizon. Why is that an issue? Uh, because I am unwilling to switch to AT&T. Sorry, folks, I'm actually happy with the service on Verizon. AT&T is by far the lesser network in my area and I kind of like a phone to, well, you know, make phone calls.

Second, it seems rather unlikely that Apple will strike a deal with Verizon. I was following the rumors, waiting and hoping for the iPhone to be available on my network. But I'm convinced it won't happen ... for quite a while.

Third, and possibly the biggest issue, I have been using Palm products for several years now. My current device is a Centro (I have been through the Palm V, Palm m500, Treo 650, Treo 700p). All my primary contacts -- and a host of other data in the form of memos, scheduling, etc. -- is in Palm's proprietary format. C'mon! Don't judge me! These Palm devices sync very well with the Mac platform, OK?

Here is my Centro!

Now, you may well ask, "Why do you need a new smartphone?" Great question! And the answer is ... I don't really need a new smartphone. But I am up for contract renewal, which means a discount on a new device, and I do want one. Or, rather, I want a phone that is better on the web than my Centro (that Blazer browser is so 2005).

So my question all of you (er, well, anyone reading my blog; so that's all two of you) is this:

What device should I get?

I'm serious. I need some help in choosing my new smartphone. And it will ideally have the following features:

• Sync well with Mac OS X
• Decent web browser
• Good audio quality
• Support for Twitter (preferably via Tweetdeck) and Facebook
• Full keyboard (virtual or practical, I'm not picky just yet)
• Video playback
• iTunes integration
• Ability to import my Palm data

I'm not really all that interested in BlackBerry devices, so I guess the choice is between Android and Palm. Or, maybe Palm is not really part of the discussion. The Palm Pre and Palm Pixi look good, but the new Web OS doesn't seem to support my old Palm data very well and syncing with Mac is an issue. Not that Android is much better in the Mac sync department. Bottom line: I'll have some serious adjustment no matter which direction I go. I just want to ensure I make the best choice given my criteria.

So, have at it! Make a pitch for which device I should get and why. I appreciate any and all help in this matter.

Which droid is the droid I'm looking for, Ben Kenobi?

Oh, look. Palm made phones for Weebles!

Professor Documents Ancient Theaters

This looks like an interesting gig...

Thomas Hines is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Whitman College. According to CollegeNews.com, Hines has visited 43 Greek and Roman theaters in three countries in just the last six years. He has taken tons of photos and used them to compile a website.

Hines’ site links viewers with some immediacy to a distant past. “Theater is an ephemeral art form," he said. "We have no way of attending an ancient Greek or Roman play, but we still have this one, very large, tangible artifact. This will let people know these places are out there, and that it’s OK to go."

I visited Hines' site, and the virtual tours are pretty cool. Go check it out yourself:

The Ancient Theatre Archive: A Virtual Reality Tour of Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre Architecture

BOY GETS REVIEWED

I've been long absent from this blog. And that means no updates on the work for BOY GETS GIRL which is going into its closing weekend. Maybe it was getting sick with some kind of upper respiratory thing during tech week. Maybe it was the added responsibilities at my day job or the school where I volunteer. Whatever it was ... it kept me off the blog.

But I'm BACK. And BOY GETS GIRL was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The show as a whole comes off really well. But my sound design ... not so much:

Adam Riggar's lighting design features the flicker and buzz of overhead office fluorescents between scenes, and the emphasis on this unsparing fixture helps assert the play's themes. However, Riggar's dated office set, paired with the music chosen by Brian S. Weis, give the false and distracting impression that this is a mid-'80s period piece, and only when laptops and cell phones appear do we realize the action is happening in the present.

Still, these issues are quibbles with what is a solid production of an interesting piece.

Yes, I've said before that I don't work for reviewers. I work for the director, the cast, and the audience. All of them have had nothing but praise for the sound design. In fact, after opening weekend, the director told me:

"[T]he more I listen to the music in BOY GETS GIRL, the more I appreciate your sense of aesthetic. You made some brilliant selections in building a sound track for this production."

Still, I want to address a few issues with Ms. Rosenfield's "Mid-'80s period piece" comment:

1. A cell phone is used in the very first scene. During that scene, the actors discuss Internet dating sites. I should note that, at this point, only one song has played, an updated instrumental version of "Every Breath You Take." (Update 5/11/2007: I just saw the show again last night, and they do not mention dating websites; they talk about personal ads. I can probably assume they mean ads on websites, but I won't go there without dialogue to back it up. So, I've crossed out the Internet dating site comment. Sorry!).
2. I did a count. Of the 18 songs used in this production (and I decided to exclude the "Jeopardy" theme because it is more a sound effect than a musical transition), four of them were released in the '80s. Two were updated versions of songs originally released in the '80s. And the remaining 12 were recorded after 1990.
   
3. Of the post-'90 songs, one is from 1991, two are from 1998, and the rest were recorded between 2000 and 2006.
4. Regarding the four '80s tracks: Three of them are obscure songs by The Cure, and the fourth is by Lyle Mays, longtime keyboardist for the Pat Methany Group. Only instrumental clips were used. Unless Ms. Rosenfield is a big fan of The Cure, which is possible, I don't see how she could have pigeoned any of these songs as evoking the '80s.
5. The two updated songs used in the production were newer, instrumental recordings of The Police's "Every Breath You Take." Yes, this song was originally released in the '80s. I already mentioned the first use in point #1. The second "Every Breath You Take" comes in Act II and it is a deconstruction of the song by jazz improvisation masters, The Bad Plus. Both "Breath" recordings were made post-2005. How is this indicative of the '80s?
   
6. "Every Breath You Take" has taken on a timeless quality, and I challenge you to find a better song about stalking.
7. This last note is pure conjecture or speculation on my part. The office furniture, which is first seen in Act I Scene 2 and is featured in many scenes after that, looks more like a school office furniture than high end magazine publisher furniture. And maybe that swayed the reviewer in the final analysis. I don't know.
   

Now that I have all of that off my chest, let me repeat that I'm not too worried about getting dissed on the music. I knowingly offered tracks that ranged from the 80s up through to the "modern" era of music. And, it's just my opinion, but I only submitted an "older" track if I was damn sure it was appropriate and worked for the mood of the scene. It is extremely rare to find a film soundtrack that has only "contemporary" works on it.

As noted in my list, the music selections range in time from the 90s to more recent recordings.
And though they come from jazz, fusion, gothic ambient, etc., they can all fit nicely in the category of modern eclectic. We probably got slapped for using "Every Breath You Take." And I almost resisted using it because it is so well known. But the more I thought about it, the more I opened up to it. There is just no another song that is more singularly associated with the act of stalking, but that can still lull the listener into feeling that 'Hey, maybe this is a love song after all.'

In the final analysis, I am happy that the reviewer recognized the actors for their fabulous work in pulling off this risky production. The music is, after all, just window dressing to help the audience through transitions.

This is the last weekend to see BOY GETS GIRL. Go get your tix now!

Boy Gets Girl
by Rebecca Gilman

Through May 12

call or email
to reserve your seats!

215-723-9984
play@montgomerytheater.org

Portable Theater Lighting?

I know that portable lighting systems do exist and are employed by DJs, rock bands, and theater troupes. Heck, there are even people who specialize in doing lighting (and sometimes sound) for an event. But both of those options can be quite expensive.

Now, I recently came across an Instructable for High Power LED Room & Spot Lighting, and I just had to wonder ...

Could this be an inexpensive way to rig up some very simple lighting for the occasional performance at, say, the local library or even retirement community? I'm not saying that this exact system could handle such an endeavor, but it might be a good start in developing one.

Thoughts? Comments?

RGB Color Controllable High Power LED Room & Spot Lighting

Color Controllable High Power Lighting -- no longer for billionaires only! Build your own fully color controllable RGB room or spot lighting for under $100. Perhaps you are asking yourself: "why would i want an any-color light?" well, for starters you can give your pets a virtual color make-over! ever wondered if Fido might look better in purple? perhaps you'd like to see your makeup the way Bono's seeing it with those blue-lens sunglasses? or maybe you're sick of your almond-white wall paint and want to give it just a tweak of eggshell today? of course, it's a gimme for the dance-party, but you can also use it to tweak the shade on your existing room lighting, or as a standalone to get any shade of white (and perfect color rendering) - invaluable for visual arts. in search of an existential crisis? i just spent a good half an hour with this light staring at my hand and trying to figure out what color it is *supposed* to be.

Specs:
- Controller can power up to 360 watts of LED lighting - between 3 and 100+ power LED's
- Analog dial or slider for Red, Green and Blue - create an infinite number of light colors!
- very fine analog control for precise color matching (or white matching)
- Includes current-limiting protection circuit
- Simple 7-component thru-hole circuit - No microcontrollers or programming!
- Controller cost: $25
- 50-watt, 15-LED lamp cost: $50
- Efficient: 50 watts of LED light equals 100 to 150 watts of incandescent light.
- Efficient: 80-90% controller efficiency
- Controller can be used with a variety of power sources
- Recycled materials & electronics: 20-40%